Mining News
Wheaton Precious Metals reports record revenue, ups dividend in Q1 2021
(Kitco News) - Wheaton Precious Metals, the world's premier precious metals streaming company, reported Thursday that the company’s revenue was $324 million in the first quarter of 2021 representing a 27% increase from the first quarter of 2020 due primarily to a 27% increase in the average realized gold equivalent price.
The company said that average cash costs in the first quarter of 2021 were $449 per gold equivalent ounce as compared to $382 in Q1 2020. This resulted in a cash operating margin of $1,399 per gold equivalent ounce sold, an increase of 30% as compared with the first quarter of 2020.
Wheaton added that as a result of the strong quarterly results, the company has increased its dividend to $0.14 per common share for the third quarter in a row, a 40% bump relative to Q1 2020.
President and CEO Randy Smallwood commented, "We are excited to report our first production of cobalt from the Voisey's Bay mine in Canada and look forward to having many more years of what we believe is the most environmentally friendly, socially responsible cobalt production in the world. In addition, in the first quarter, we added a new precious metals stream on a top-tier copper development project, Santo Domingo, which should provide additional growth."
Wheaton's estimated attributable production in 2021 is forecast to be 370,000 to 400,000 ounces of gold, 22.5 to 24.0 million ounces of silver, and 40,000 to 45,000 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") of other metals, resulting in production of approximately 720,000 to 780,000 GEOs, unchanged from previous guidance.
